bookmark pageemail

News and Reports General Assessment - sites & articles evaluating the environmental condition of South Asia Strategy & Policy - information on tactical responses to environment-related problems In Focus

RECYCLED RUBBER TYRES COULD CLEAN WATER (New Scientist) - An environmental engineer claims that old rubber tyres can filter water four times faster than conventional systems, but scale up and leaching of toxic matter need to be examined more. The suggestion is interesting and plausible, says Sean Moran, an environmental engineer who runs Expertise Limited in the UK. “But I can see there being a lot of difficulties taking it from lab stage to full scale” ... Full Article

NEPAL HAVEN FOR WILDLIFE TRADERS (The Himalayan Times, Nepal) - The wildlife crime is no longer a haphazard pastime. According to Interpol, after the narcotics trade, it is the second largest illegal occupation in the world ... Full Article

FOREST LOCATION VITAL FOR GLOBAL WARMING (Sarid) - Tropical forests may slow global warming more than temperate ones, says a French-US scientific report that looked at both climate and carbon-cycle effects of large-scale deforestation. While mitigating strategies could involve preserving forests around the equator, they should focus on energy conservation and clean power, such as solar and wind, in more northern and southern regions ... Full Article

PAKISTAN TO TEST CULTIVATION IN WATER SCARCE AREAS (Sarid) - About 51 percent of Pakistan is arid, semi-arid or rugged, and not easily cultivated so that the government of Pakistan has long been seeking techniques that would boost agriculture, and therefore socio-economic development, in these regions ... Full Article

CORPORATIONS WARNED NOT TO IGNORE ENVIRONMENT (Sarid) - Unfortunately, most companies fail to recognize the link between healthy ecosystems and their business interests. A new study warns that devaluing the environment will have dire impacts on the future of business. Ecosystems will lose their ability to produce some of what businesses value most, resulting in the lack of raw materials, higher operating costs and reduced flexibility. Companies must transform business models and operations to avoid major economic losses ... Full Article

WORLD BANK ADVISES BETTER FOREST GOVERNANCE: Preserving the world's rapidly shrinking tropical forests and improving the economic prospects of millions of poor people requires an urgent strengthening of national forest governance, the World Bank said in its policy research report issued on Monday. This ongoing problem, the report argues, is driven largely by economic incentives to expand agriculture, influenced by changes in agricultural prices. A majority of people in rural tropical areas live in or around vulnerable forests or woodlands, depending on them heavily for survival ... article

BLACKSMITH INSTITUTE LISTS WORLD'S WORST POLLUTED PLACES, by Jasmin Mehovic: The Blacksmith Institute, an international environmental action group, today named the world's 10 most polluted places where millions of people are affected by the pollution. The report was compiled by a team of international environment and health experts, including specialists from Johns Hopkins, Harvard University, IIT India, University of Idaho, Mt. Sinai Medical Center and City University of New York ... article

In Focus

Links to articles on matters in the environmental spotlight.

• Tsunami Villagers Give Thanks to Trees. BBC News, February 16, 2005
Thousands of trees helped break the impact of tsunami.

• Global Warming: kyoto Protocol Comes Into Force. BBC News, February 16, 2005
The Kyoto accord, which aims to curb the air pollution has come into force seven years after it was agreed.

• Global Warming & Reefs, ENS, December 6, 2004
A report warns that many of the world's reefs are irreversibly damaged and others are in danger of collapse.